Acacia
by neko-nya
Summary: After a very strange event, Dark and Daisuke end up befriending a pair of brothers who've just transfered to their school. But later on, they find out that there's more than meets the eye. [DarkxKrad][DaixSat]
1. Prologue

Acacia

Prologue:

_**How helpless I am.**_

_**Never being able to do anything but watch…**_

* * *

"_Call __an __ambulance! __Hurry! __Get __the __doctors __here!"_

"_What?"_

"_It's __an __emergency!"_

"_What __happened?"_

"_I don't know!_ _He__…__he __just __suddenly __dropped__…__"_

"_The __ambulance __is __on __the __way!"_

"_You __better __get __out __of __the __way __boy.D__on't __just __stand __there!"_

"_But-"_

"_You're __in __the __way! L__et __the __doctors __through!"_

"_A-"_

"_Step __aside __boy!"_

"_A-alright…"_

* * *

"Class, welcome back to school. I trust you've all had an eventful summer which you'll _all_ be _very_ happy to write about, essay form, single spaced, times new roman, point twelve font, no moving the margins or any other loopholes you can think of. Fifteen pages due next week."

Groans.

"Aside from that, we have a new student joining us this year, everyone, please be nice to him. Did I mention he's already graduated from university? Just thought you'd all like to know. Hikari-kun, please come in." In stepped in a boy their age with neat blue hair and icy blue eyes. He gave a curt bow and stood there in front of a class as though he was a show-and-tell exhibit. "Class, this is Hikari Satoshi."

Blue eyes darted around indifferently, he gave a small bow again, "…hello?" Almost immediately, the class began to chatter. Some good, some bad, he didn't really notice or care.

The teacher cleared his throat, the room fell back into silence, "Well then, Hikari-kun…I'm curious as to why you chose go back to high school…you don't have to tell us if you don't want to-"

In a quiet voice, he answered, "It's for…someone very important to me."

* * *

Nya

Whoo, another fic :D hmmm what else what else...? The name is a song title by Remioromen, actually, all the chapter titles will be song names by Remioromen. Yes, this fic is humor and tragedy :) With a side of drama, romance, lots of angst and what else is there? Not sure yet, anyways, this is just me making funky combinations XP enjoy

Merry Christmas no more! And happy new year's eve eve eve eve eve!

PS: I'm very sorry for those who had to read the crap summary I made up. And I mean _very_ sorry, I was so tempted to just leave it blank...


	2. Ao no Sekai

Acacia

Chapter I: Ao No Sekai

Niwa Daisuke, age fourteen, a lover of art. He, himself was an artist, a fairly good one at that. And if anyone was to ask him how his passion for art began, he could very easily reply with a big grin on his face.

It started because of the elephant.

* * *

He could still remember it very clearly, how on that rainy day, his mother had dragged him around an art gallery at the age of six, his brother was nine at the time and was running around the place, probably sugar high. And so, as his mother took off, in attempts to catch the elder boy; the redhead decided to look around just incase there was something interesting though he highly doubted it.

The art works were beautiful, he couldn't deny that part, but they were all so…lifeless. Creative, yes, spirited…not so much. He continued weaving around the adults when he came across a nice little area called the 'Children's Artwork Zone'. It was relatively less crowded, most of them were just parents bragging about the art their kids drew and how they were hung up in an art gallery. That's when he saw it.

The elephant.

There it hung, the elephant's beady eyes watching the crowd in all its glory. Ruby eyes widened and approached the painting. First he looked at the tag, but unfortunately, he was but six and reading wasn't exactly easy for him, so he decided it wasn't important who drew it, he turned his attention back to the drawing at hand. The elephant looked _real_, every wrinkle and fold was sketched in and shaded perfectly. It not only looked _real_, but it also looked _happy_. It almost looked like it was smiling at him. Almost…

Daisuke instantly decided that he liked the elephant and wanted to draw something exactly like it. And he wouldn't stop drawing until he was able to draw an elephant that could appear both real and happy, so that other children would be able to gawk at it and get motivated to draw elephants.

The only thing that bugged him was that it was _almost_ smiling but not quite. Just almost…well he could change that. Whoever figured that the children's art area didn't need frames and protection were idiots. With a happy smile on his face, he dug out a marker from his pocket and tiptoed to reach the drawing.

Before anyone realized what he was up to, the marker had made its marks on the elephant, which now had a large happy smile on it and the initials D.N. on it. Satisfied, he ran off to find his mother to show her his little addition to the elephant he so loved.

His mother on the other hand…not so happy. She was dragging his brother back when the redhead showed her his art, she gave a terrified stare at the now _very_ happy elephant and took the redhead by the hand, completely forgetting about the other boy, "Why did you do that, Dai-chan?"

Daisuke's happy grin remained intact, grinning as widely as his could, he told his mother, "The elephant looks happier now! See? It's smiling!"

Emiko on the other hand gave a sigh and rubbed her temples, she had learned something new that day, children and art galleries didn't mix well. She glanced at the smiling elephant once more then at the artist's name, "…poor Hikari-kun…" Then realization dawned on her, "Dai-chan, where did your brother go?"

The redhead blinked, didn't his mother like the smiling elephant? Because he sure did, he pointed to the figure that was his brother running towards the exit. In all haste, Emiko dragged Daisuke behind her as she ran after her other son, the elephant no longer the main issue in her mind.

Ruby eyes looked back one last time, the thick black line and his initials stuck out, very proud of himself. He said goodbye and waved to the elephant before half flying out of the premises completely. He could've sworn there was a rainbow in the sky after they'd left, but he wasn't sure since he was moving too fast to see.

He still remember the elephant very clearly, with and without the happy smile. And he would've happily spent the rest of his morning simply thinking back to fond memories but voices from the floor below interrupted his happy thoughts. Sighing, he made his way down where the voices of his brother and mother erupted from.

* * *

"I'm not! I don't!"

"Yes you do! Why are you lying to your own mother? I can _tell_, don't you argue with me, young man!"

The redhead walked into the kitchen to see his brother, Dark, and his mother bickering away, and of course, his father and grandfather were sitting around with a mug of coffee in their hands, idly conversing, completely ignorant of the situation. He wished that trait had been passed down to him. "What's going on?"

The two stopped momentarily and stared at him, then the two spoke out at the same time, "Dai-chan, tell your brother to stop lying to me!"

"Daisuke, tell her I'm not lying!"

He rose a brow, "Lying about what?" In his mind, a million things frolicked through at exactly what his brother _could_ lie about. Most of the things he had gotten into trouble for, there had been a lot of evidence and witnesses that were against him, mainly teachers and other staff. It wouldn't help, trying to pinpoint what they were arguing about, he picked up a glass of milk and took a sip.

Amethyst eyes stared intensely at his brother, he gave a frown, "Tell mom that I'm not into guys!"

Daisuke spat out his morning drink, "W-what!"

Emiko crossed her arms, "You're just in denial! I don't see anything wrong with you liking other boys, I just want you to come out of the closet."

"_This_ is what you two were arguing about?"

The frown stayed firm on his lips, "Just because I have friends who are guys doesn't mean I _like_ them! I've had like a million dates with girls, I like _them_! Why do you insist I'm gay?"

"Because I've seen you looking around! I've got pictures to prove it too!" She yelled at her son rather loudly, pulling pictures from her sleeve. Daisuke couldn't figure out why she kept them up her sleeve, but decided not to question it.

He snapped back, "Coincidence! Coincidence I say!"

But she wasn't finished, she waggled her finger in his face, "_And_ you've never stayed in a relationship with a girl long enough to actually call them your girlfriend! You've never gone on more than two dates with the same girl!"

Dark protested for the sake of his sexual orientation, "I like to try things out! What's wrong with that! Anyways, they're boring."

"See! That's exactly my point! You find girls boring!"

"I'm straighter than a pencil!"

"Actually…they sell pencils that are pretty crooked nowadays…" the redhead mentioned offhandedly.

Violet eyes narrowed at the general direction of his brother, "Thanks a lot Dai-chan, that's really helpful. I'm straighter than an arrow!"

"Arrows don't always go straight! Think about the recycling sign!"

He whined, "Mother!"

The brunette gave a huff, "Don't you 'mother' me!"

Daisuke was honestly surprised, not only was the topic unsuspected, but the very idea that his brother, one of, if not _the_ most popular guy in school, was into guys. He gave a huff, "And you called _me_ 'le gay artiste' for liking art…"

Dark looked over, "Hey! It's true! You _will_ end up with a guy and you know it!"

Emiko frowned, "If you can say that about Dai-chan, why can't you direct it to yourself?"

"Because I like _girls_! And I don't like _art_ just like how I don't like _guys_!"

"What's wrong with boys anyways!"

The redhead frowned, "And art."

The elder boy gave a sigh, "Well, let me list the ways hm? Guys aren't as pretty as girls and everyone knows that artsy people are too open-minded, and therefore often stray onto _the __other __side_."

"Hey! Like kendo's any better!"

"Oi, kendo's a manly sport!"

Emiko gave a pause while the brothers began arguing, "So you're saying that guys aren't pretty enough...?"

The violet haired boy had his brother in a headlock, "That's right, they're nothing compared to girls."

There was an evil glint in his mother's eyes that made him a more than worried, "If that's the problem then that can very _easily_ be solved." With that said, she headed to the door and put on her shoes, giving a happy smile she opened the door, "Your breakfast is on the table, Dai-chan! You two better get to school soon, I'll be back later!"

Dark stared at the now closed door along with his brother, "Oh my god…_please_ tell me she did not just go out to kidnap some pretty boy…"

* * *

Nya!

Second update of the year! With tests coming up within weeks, I can't see myself updating :\ sorry...but once they're done I'll be trying my best to update my older fics, seeing that I've _just_noticed how long it's been since I've worked on them XD;; my old obsession for Reno has also been renewed by whatever mysterious force works in my head XP completely irrelevant but who cares? Happy January-ness!


	3. Kasa Kurage

Acacia

Chapter II: Kasa Kurage

The next morning, much to the brothers' horror, their mother was not there to greet them. In fact, she was nowhere to be seen. Their breakfasts had been prepared for them and were sitting there on the counter, just waiting to be devoured. And the morning after that, the other two adult figures also disappeared from the house. Needless to say, it was very alarming. "Do you think she's stalking some random unsuspecting kid?"

The redhead shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich, "Who knows, you can never tell what mom's going to do. And she's even dragged dad and grandpa with her."

"True…hopefully they won't give the kid a heart-attack. Hey, I have practice after school by the way, so you'll have to walk home alone, alright?"

"I'm not a kid Dark, I'm not going to get lost or anything."

Dark gave a grin and ruffled his brother's hair, "I know that. I've _only_ been your brother for fourteen years now."

Daisuke sighed and picked up the remote control and turned on the television to the weather channel, "looks like it's going to be raining for awhile…I guess we'll be needing umbrellas…" He didn't really like umbrellas, especially when he had to put it in his locker, and it got his shoes and everything else all wet.

The type of umbrellas that he _really_ didn't like were transparent ones, they reminded him of jellyfish almost, and so, that's what he named them: jellyfish umbrellas. But that wasn't even the part of the reason why he disliked them so much. When he was younger he was walking with his family down the street, just like any other normal rainy day. Then he saw them, these people, kissing, attempting to hide their spit-swapping behind their umbrella. Unfortunately for them, their umbrella was oh so very see through.

He could still see them eating each other's faces, that day, he swore to himself, that if he ever kissed anyone behind an umbrella, it wouldn't be transparent.

Suddenly, something was thrown at him, hitting him in the back of the head. He looked over with a frown on his face, he looked down at the umbrella, "What was that for?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're leaving, or else we're going to be late." Ruby eyes watched as his brother picked up his things and headed for the door. He muttered something incoherent under his breath before getting up, turning off the television and trudged after the other.

* * *

After school came about, and as expected, Dark was not there to greet him and he was to end up walking home alone. In the school courtyard, he saw a boy looking up through, much to his distaste, a transparent umbrella. It took a moment for him to realize that it was the new student in his class, and he appeared to be waiting for someone. Not that he really cared, the only thing he paid attention was the see through umbrella, it bugged him.

Why would anyone want to have a jellyfish umbrella?

"To watch the rain." It startled him. Had the other boy read his mind? The blue haired boy didn't look over and continued speaking, "I like watching the rain fall and I don't feel like getting wet. That's why I have a transparent umbrella. It's Niwa, right?"

"Yes, that's right…" he looked and focused on the boy instead, though the other never once took his eyse off the sky, "how'd you know I was going to ask you that?"

"I could feel you staring."

Color quickly rose to his face and he immediately apologized to the other, "s-sorry, I didn't mean to stare. Well I didn't mean to get caught anyways…" That was Niwa Daisuke, the boy who couldn't stop his honest, but random comments from popping out of the blues to save his own life.

He gave a shrug, "it's alright…I was lying anyways."

Daisuke blinked in confusion, "What?"

"This isn't actually my umbrella. I didn't bring one, some girl just gave it to me."

"Oh…" What a strange guy. Not only did he read his mind, but he ended up turning it into a riddle of some sort. The redhead almost snapped his finger in realization in front of the other, of course he would…he _did_ graduate from university already. It must've been a university thing to do. Then he realized something else, was he getting made fun of?

"I'm not making fun of you."

It was probably a lie. Maybe he was just getting bored of waiting for whoever he was waiting for and decided to poke fun at him. "I know…" he muttered unconvincingly and looked at his watch, "sorry, I better get home before my mom gets worried. I'll see you in class tomorrow!" Suddenly, the impression that had been made on him about transparent umbrellas began to alter. Just ever so slightly.

Blue eyes glanced at the retreating figure before turning back to the falling rain silently.

* * *

The weekend passed with very little bumps on the road, much to his relief. His parents had returned back to their normal being-there-ness in the morning, just sitting around, eating breakfast as though nothing had happened. Daisuke could feel himself relax slightly, just slightly though, because in the back of his mind he had a nagging voice that told him that his mother didn't just give up half way. No, if that ever happened, it'd mean the world was coming to an end.

Dark didn't allow himself to relax, not mentally anyways. He'd been alive for three more years than his little brother and knew better. The little nagging voice in the back of his mind wasn't exactly in the back anymore, it was yelling and stomping around, throwing a little back-of-the-mind-voice tantrum. Not to mention his mother's plan had _him_ involved, which was another reason for him not to let his guard down. After all, with their mother was involved, anything could happen. Like that time she broke into the zoo or that other time she somehow spent a night at the town's art museum without getting caught.

"Dark-chan, what's wrong? You look like a rabid badger's about to bite you." His mother spoke with a smile on her face, taking a sip of her drink. "Relax a little, you're going to turn into an old man very soon if you don't."

His grandfather gave a laugh, "That's right! I don't stay all youthful by stressing out over nothing! Come tell us what's wrong."

Amethyst eyes looked at the adults suspiciously, eye brows slightly raised, he decided to shrug it off, "it's nothing. Just thinking."

Emiko couldn't help but to tease her son lightheartedly, "About _someone_?"

Dark turned around with a frown on his face, "mom! I told you already-"

She cut him off and waved offhandedly, "I'm joking! It was a joke! My, you're tense today."

The boy gave a huff and headed up the stairs, Kosuke sighed, "Emiko-san, maybe you shouldn't have teased him."

The brunette merely smiled, "it's probably just a phase. He'll get over it. Though I wonder who he inherited such a short temper from."

Daisuke looked over at his mother nervously, he didn't want to answer the question and apparently no one else did. "I think I'll go up and start on my homework." It was a lie obviously, he never started until the sun was setting or even later.

He could hear his mother praise herself happily, "what wonderful children I've raised!"

* * *

It wasn't until Monday morning when Dark's suspicions came true. He awoke to a gray sky, it was going to start raining any moment now, he could tell. With a sigh, he dragged himself out of bed and to his chair where his uniform laid. Picking the clothes up, he then proceeded to drag his feet into the washroom, a minute later, there was a knock on the door telling him to hurry up. "Hnn…"

They really needed another bathroom upstairs. It was the same routine every morning. Dark dragged himself into the bathroom and Daisuke would be waiting outside a minute later. He shoved the toothbrush into his mouth and proceeded to put his uniform on, it was one advantage to sleeping in boxers. He often laughed at his little brother about sleeping in pajamas, but that was only in summer when it was actually warm in the mornings. During winter it was Daisuke's turn to laugh at him for his stupidity.

Finally finishing up, he walked out of the bathroom and headed back to his room to grab his things then headed down the stairs while the redhead headed into the bathroom. Once downstairs, he took a large gulp of his milk. After all, he needed all the calcium he could get. But he promptly choked on it and very nearly spat it all out when he saw his mother.

Emiko had indeed gone out and kidnapped some unsuspecting pretty boy, who was now standing in a stranger's kitchen, looking very, _very_ confused and uncomfortable. Apparently, during the last few mornings, she had been researching her victims, narrowing them down one by one. Then, after deciding on the best time to put her little heist into action, she pounced. The boy looked around and blinked uncomfortably. His mother on the other hand, looked very smug when she greeted her son, "see, see Dark? Isn't he pretty?"

Even Dark had to admit the boy was pretty, he knew something pretty when he saw it. And the boy was pretty. With his long golden hair and confused, equally golden eyes, "mother…please don't tell me you nabbed him off the streets…" He was half surprised that his mother didn't tie the other boy to a chair, but then he noticed that the boy's wrist was cuffed to one of the drawers.

She looked slightly startled at the very idea, "Why Dark! How could you even think of me doing such a thing? If you must know, I 'nabbed' him the second he stepped out his door! You should know I plan better than that!"

He couldn't help but let out a groan. The boy was staring at him, probably expecting answers for everything that'd happened so far. He looked familiar, but that was the last thing on he wanted to deal with right now. He rubbed his temples, "I can't believe you went and kidnapped someone…"

She pouted and placed her hands on her hips, "I don't kidnap children! Why would I when I have two of my own?" That's what he wanted to know too. "I merely brought him back as evidence!"

It was around that time Daisuke made his way down the stairs, a similar look of incredulity set on his face. "Dark…please don't tell me she…"

Dark raised his hand, "don't say it, Dai."

"…excuse me, what am I doing here?" A quiet voice spoke up, silky smooth, causing them to avert their attention back to their hostage at hand. Them, being the brothers and mother. Kosuke and his father-in-law were happily chatting away as usual. Ignorance was bliss.

The brunette gave a happy smile, "you're just so adorable! I just brought you here to prove to Dark-chan that boy-"

He hastily interrupted his mother to prevent further embarrassment to anyone, specifically, himself. "Nothing! My mom's just a little crazy, that's all!"

She shot him one third disapproving, one third pouting look, and one third very smug look. "Don't be silly Dark, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"What do you mean there's nothing to be embarrassed about? There's plenty to be embarrassed about! Not that I'm the one who should be embarrassed! I'm not the one that just kidnapped-"

But his mother wasn't listening to him anymore, she was looking at the boy very happily, whereas the boy was probably still slightly dazed from getting kidnapped and handcuffed to a piece furniture. "So, what's your name? Are you hungry? Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

The blond shook his head slightly, he continued speaking in a hushed voice while Dark gave a huff and began eating his breakfast. "Hikari Krad…I just ate awhile ago…"

Amethyst eyes looked over, "Oh…" he said to himself when he remembered where he'd seen the other from. It was the new kid in his class, graduated university with an art major apparently. Stupid prodigies. Stupid oxymoron.

Daisuke snapped out of his dazed state when the doorbell rang, he blinked, wondering who would be at their door at such an early hour. He went and answered it, receiving a very surprising surprise, "Hikari-kun! What are you doing here?"

"Niwa?" He looked equally surprised, "…a woman just took off with my brother…I saw her come here," he explained very briefly. "Maybe I have the wrong house…"

For a few moments, he felt very stupid, the boy in their kitchen had just introduced himself as Hikari Krad and he'd been too stunned to make the connection. He gave a very nervous and embarrassed laugh, "No, you got the right house, the woman you saw…" he gave another weak laugh, "that was my mom…sorry."

"…oh."

The awkwardness was so thick it could've suffocated someone. He silently wondered, out of all people his mother could've kidnapped, why the strange transparent umbrella using, mind reading boy's brother? Hopefully he wasn't reading his mind while he thought that. "Yea…nice and awkward…would you like to come in? I'll explain everything."

Satoshi gave a small nod and stepped in, he was led to the kitchen to where the blonde was standing, "Krad?"

The said looked over and blinked, "Satoshi? What are you doing here?"

"I followed you…" there was a long pause, "and I find you here, attached to a drawer."

"Yea, that sounds about right…"

Daisuke averted eye contact, "Sorry about this…you see…mom kidnapped your brother because she wanted to show Dark-"

"Don't say it, Daisuke! If you say it, I'll personally hack your limbs off one by one and slap you with them." Dark glared at his brother as he finished off his glass of milk and set it down. He got up and put his dishes in the sink, "come on, let's go, we're going to be late for school."

Emiko had no protest as she undid the handcuff on the blond. She was still grinning happily like Dark usually did when he pulled off one of his 'brilliant' pranks, "yes, get going, you wouldn't want to be late for school now! It's raining outside so don't forget your umbrellas. Oh? You two don't have umbrellas?"

The brothers shook their heads, part of the reason being that the elder had been kidnapped before he could get one and the younger was too busy persuading his brother's kidnapper to bother getting one. Actually that was the whole reason, Dark gave a muffled groan along with an irritated sigh, "mother-"

She didn't bother listening to her son and happily exclaimed to the other, "That's okay! You can borrow ours!"

"_Mother._ In case you didn't notice, you've lost all the umbrellas out stalking or doing whatever you do. Only me and Daisuke's are left."

Placing her hands at her waist, she huffed, "then you two can share and you can give one of yours to those two, that's not a problem at all, now is it? Honestly! You really need to learn how to solve such simple problems by yourself!"

And that's how Dark was embarrassed in front of two strangers, by his own mother. He sighed again and headed for the door, "fine, fine, I'm in no mood to argue with you today, they can have my umbrella, it's bigger, I'll just share with Daisuke."

He slung his things over his shoulder and stuffed his feet into his shoes. A moment later the other three moved and followed his procedure. The blonde looked back slightly hesitantly and nodded, "thank you…" he didn't know why he was thanking the kidnapper woman for, but he was accustomed to thanking people after he'd been to their house.

"Such good manners too!" Emiko cooed and waved her hand offhandedly, she looked at her son, "Dark-chan, you should learn from him!"

Her son muttered something incoherent under his breath and headed out the door with the umbrellas. Once they had assembled outside, he passed his umbrella to the blond and opened his little brother's. "Come on Dai-chan, we're going to be late."

He heard the other umbrella open, without a word the other set of brothers began walking, slightly behind them, Daisuke shot his brother a look, how awkward the moment was. Dark rubbed his temples as raindrops splattered onto the surface of the umbrella, "hey…" the other two looked up from their quiet conversation, "I'm really sorry…I mean, about everything that happened just now…"

The blond answered just as quietly as he did in the house, "…it's alright."

The redhead smiled to himself, the elder of the two seemed nice enough, though he couldn't be sure about the mind reading one. But then again, with a brother like that, he was bound to be at least _decent_. He looked up at Dark. He could tell that his brother wasn't satisfied with just an apology, after all, their mother did _kidnap_ the poor guy. It was a wonder how he wasn't foaming through the mouth already from shock and possibly a heart attack. Silently, he wondered what his brother was going to do to make up for it.

* * *

For the rest of the day, the voice which was no longer at the back of his mind just wouldn't shut up. He sighed and rested his head on his desk with a small thud, the girls in his class and several of his friends looked over at him, "hey Dark, you alright?"

"Yea…I've just had a really…weird morning to put it mildly." He glanced to the back of the class where the blond sat, staring aimlessly at the rainy sky, his mind didn't seem to be there at all. Perhaps he was still in shock from being snatched from the steps of his own home. Maybe he was terrified of Dark and probably his family now. The uncertainty and possible guilt ate away at him like hyenas at a gazelle. There was none of that civilized small bites stuff either, it ripped out chunks at a time, all while snickering snidely in that annoying way it did.

* * *

Near the end of class, he made up his mind as to what he was going to do. When the bell rang, he walked up to the blond, "hey…Krad, right?" It would've been so stupid if he had gotten his name wrong.

Golden eyes turned away from the window and to the speaker, he nodded, "Yes?"

"Do you think you'd want to come with me for a drink or something after school? My treat, as a," he shrugged, "you know, a way to apologize for this morning…with my mother nabbing you and all…"

Krad blinked, "you don't have to…"

"Please. It'd take a load off my conscience."

He cocked his head slightly, small bemused smile on his face, "alright then…if you really want to. But Satoshi…"

Dark rubbed the back of his neck and answered quickly, "I'll get Daisuke to walk him home or something."

"Well, if you're sure about it then alright."

Then the pencil that sat at the blonde's desk decided that it'd be fun to commit suicide by rolling off the table ledge. The two made a grab for it the second it hit the floor. Fingers brushing against each other not so lightly, Krad shrunk away first, sitting back up, looking at his fingers that had been stubbed against the other's. Dark passed him his pencil before shoving his hand into his pocket to hide any signs of pain he might've been feeling, "here you go."

"Thank you…"

"No problem, I'll go tell Daisuke. I'll meet you in the courtyard in ten, okay?" With that said, he collected his stuff and departed, leaving no room for argument. It was only outside the room, did he allow himself to stick his fingers in his mouth in attempt to ebb the pain away.

The blond sat there, wondering what had just happened.

As Dark trotted down the hallway, not really rushing, allowing people to gawk as he passed. He liked the attention, he tightened his grip on his pack handle, for some reason, his fingers still felt slightly heated where they came into contact with the blonde's hand.

* * *

Nya

And that's how Krad was abducted by a strange lady XP who would've thoguht the beginning of the semester would be so...busy o.O I didn't...I'm still working on my older fics though, so just...stay put? My brain's melted! Doujin music is awesome:D I think I'm going to stay up a little later to type today, I'm rather deprived...but that's just me :P enjoy


	4. Umi no Ballad

Acacia

Chapter III: Umi no Ballad

It was awkward. He couldn't put it in any other words. It was super awkward, leaning against the door and waiting for a guy that wasn't his brother. A guy he'd just met. And not to mention, a guy whose mother had kidnapped him that same morning. "You ready?" He looked over at the owner of the voice and nodded. The other shot him a smile, "Alright, let's get going then."

Krad nodded again and watched the other open up the umbrella before stepping under it himself. "Where are we going," he asked quietly, not wanting to appear rude or anything.

"Hm? It's just a little café in town," he flashed him one of his infamous smiles, "you'll like it. It's got good service, great food and a nice view of the ocean too!"

The blond found himself unable to do anything but nod and continued following the other down the road.

* * *

Satoshi looked over at the redhead who was busy fumbling with his stuff, trying to shove everything into his backpack at once. And when he was finally finished, he jogged over and gave a rueful smile, "sorry, that took longer than I expected."

He shrugged, "it's okay, I'm not in a hurry or anything."

Daisuke nodded in an understanding way, "I guess Dark and your brother left already."

Looking over at the gate of the school, he pursed his lips, "I guess, do you know where they're going?"

The other shot him a reassuring smile, "You don't have to worry too much. I'm pretty sure they're just going to that café by the sea, Dark loves that place. It's this place on this corner on this street and it's got a really nice view of the ocean. I can take you there some time if you'd like."

Cerulean eyes blinked and looked at the other before giving a rather shy nod, "that'd be nice…but, isn't it raining?"

The redhead laughed, "yea, but Dark's guilt is probably eating away at him because of what mom."

"You mean because of what happened this morning?" The redhead nodded, he shrugged it off, "it wasn't that big a deal. I mean, nothing actually happened to him, anyways, he's…"

Crimson eyes looked over, "he what?"

Satoshi looked over, seemingly, mildly surprised as though he hadn't expected the other to hear, "Huh? Oh, it's nothing, he just seemed a lot more awake than usual."

* * *

The two walked down the road, the fresh scent of the ocean and salt water tickled their noses. Krad looked over, the skies were gray, causing the water to turn more of a smoky colour, rather than it's usual blue. "It looks nice, doesn't it? It normally looks way nicer than this, you know, when it's sunny and stuff…"

The blond looked at the other, but the second he met the other's eyes, he averted his gaze down to his shoe and nodded, "it looks like a storm out there, with the rain and all…"

"Yea, you're right…" Krad wasn't the only one to notice the awkwardness, and their having just met didn't really help. "The place is just over there," he pointed towards the street corner.

They walked over and took a seat by the window where there was a clear view of the ocean. The two ordered their drinks and sat there in silence. Dark cleared his throat and gave a rueful laugh, "this is nice and awkward, isn't it? You're into art right?" The blond nodded, "Daisuke's into art too, you should've seen him when he was little. He'd go and draw all over the walls and stuff."

Krad looked over, amusement evident on his face. "Satoshi used to like art, before he found the joys of running around and catching criminals. He used to draw very interesting things…he especially liked drawing elephants."

"I like looking at art but I've never been good at drawing, so I can't really say that I was artsy or anything," he rested his head on the back of his palm as he spoke, "and speaking of elephants…there was this one time, we were at this art gallery. It was me, Daisuke and our mom I think. I don't actually remember much about it, I was probably sugar high or something, running all over the place like a freak…you know, cool things like that. And apparently while mom was chasing after me, Daisuke went and drew all over some kid's elephant drawing."

Golden eyes blinked, he turned and looked at the other boy, "he didn't happen to have drawn on it with a thick black marker, did he?"

Dark gave a soft laugh, "yea, how'd you know…unless," he paused and stared in disbelief, "oh god, don't tell me Daisuke drew on your brother's drawing. Leave it to Daisuke…" there was a pause between the two before the blond began to laugh, "Please don't tell me your brother was pissed off about it."

Krad shook his head, a smile on his face, "he was a little upset about it for awhile, but he got over it. Afterwards, he told me that it looked better that way. I think it's still in the house packed up somewhere."

The other boy sighed in relief, "that's good to know…my family seems to have a thing with doing things to your family. And not necessarily good things either."

The blond laughed, "So you're trying to make up for what your family did?"

"More or less, is it working?"

"I think it's working just fine."

He smiled, "Good, that's what I was hoping for. We should do this again some time."

Krad nodded in agreement, "Yes we should."

"How about next week?"

* * *

And so, over the days and weeks, going to the café became a routine for them. They would talk about and laugh at random things, just enjoying the scenery and the cool breeze that'd blow past them.

Krad looked out with a small smile on his face, "I can't believe the sun's finally out…"

The other nodded in agreement, then he thought of a question, "Hey Krad."

"Yea?"

"I'm not complaining or anything, but you and your brother already graduated from university, right?" A nod. "Then why are you going to high school?"

The blond looked up wistfully, resting his head on his hands, "I'm not sure about me, but I wanted Satoshi to try it out, this high school thing. I guess I ended up signing up with him or something."

He blinked, "You wanted him to try it out?"

"Yes, well, he's never really been around kids his own age. I mean, even now, he's working on the force with fully trained officers. I guess I just wanted him to make friends who wouldn't judge him based on his age or anything…you know, just normal friends."

"Like Dai-chan?"

Krad smiled, "yea, like Daisuke. Sato came home the other day talking about how your brother took him to eat ice cream, I've never seem him act his age before."

Dark laughed and looked over while they were waiting for their drinks and sighed at the sight of his mother shrinking away into a nearby alleyway. A grin slowly spread over his lips as he leaned over and whispered to the other, "Hey Krad, do you see what I see?"

Golden eyes blinked and followed where his had been looking at before, then he mouthed 'oh' and nodded, "I'm guessing this is normal for you?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Just play along, okay?"

"Huh?"

He didn't have time to comprehend what Dark was talking about because suddenly, his hands were grabbed. The other's hands were coarse and relatively dry from kendo, he couldn't help but note to himself. Dark raised the volume of his voice just loud enough to ensure that he'd be heard by his mother. "Krad, you know, I've never met anyone like you before. And honestly, I think you're amazing, will you go out with me?"

The blond let out a silent laugh, "of course, Dark. I feel the same way!"

Then the two looked over at Emiko who was watching with a large grin on her face, and Dark laughed, "Is that what you wanted to see? You know we knew you were there, right? You're losing your touch, mom."

His mother gaped, "What? That was an _act?_ You two are terrible children!" With that said, she gave a huff and headed back home.

The two laughed at how successful their prank had been, then Dark looked over, a happy smile on his face, "well now that she's gone…I was serious, you know?"

Krad tilted his head slightly in confusion, "Hm?"

"I meant what I said, will you go out with me?"

* * *

When his brother came home singing to himself, he knew something had happened. Cautiously, he headed up the stairs to where the singing was coming from and entered the other's room, "Dark?"

"Yes, Dai-chan?"

The redhead pursed his lips, "Did something happen today?"

His brother looked over and grinned mischievously, "Maybe…why'd you ask?"

"Because you're grinning like that and you were singing earlier, you _never_ sing like that."

"I don't know, today mom was stalking us. So that was fun, as usual."

Daisuke stared at the elder incredulously, "she stalked you guys? I feel so bad for Krad-san, how'd he take it?"

"Krad?" Another grin, "he took it pretty well, we tricked her, it was pretty funny."

He gave a slow nod and backed out of the room when his cell phone rang. Blinking, he pulled it out of his pocket and read the message.

_Want to know something weird?_

Hurriedly, he sent the other a message back.

_Sure._

Daisuke received another message back within seconds.

_Your brother asked my brother out and my brother said yes._

His jaw dropped along with is phone as he ran back into his brother's room, "I can't believe you, Dark! And you called _me_ gay! You-mmph"

Dark waited until the shorter boy's mouth stopped moving before removing his hand, "Don't let mom hear you! Imagine what she'd do to me if she finds out. I'll never hear the end of it! Anyways, this doesn't make me gay. I'm generally not attracted to men, okay?"

"Then what does that make Krad-san?"

The elder raised a brow, "Very, very pretty?"

* * *

The sun was out when they decided to go to the café again. After paying the bill, he got up and extended his hand to the blond with a smile on his face, "would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a walk by the sea?"

Krad laughed softly and accepted his hand, "the pleasure's all mine."

While they were walking, he was staring at the ground by his feet, feeling a little embarrassed. It was a feeling he wasn't used to feeling: shyness. But at the same time, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

He glanced at the other.

Their eyes met.

Flustered, he turned and counted the waves instead.

No words were spoken between them.

They just continued to walk, enjoying each other's company.

The sun was setting and they were sitting on a set of stairs that led to the beach. Dark pointed at the sunset, "it looks like the sun's going into the water, doesn't it?"

Krad nodded, "Yea, it looks like everything's being connected."

"It'd be nice if we could just sit here until the stars come out…"

Then his stomach growled and the other laughed, "I think it'd be really nice, but you'll probably starve to death before the sun finishes setting." He watched the blond get up and dust himself off and extended his hand towards him with a smile on his face, "would do me the honor of accompanying me home?"

A large grin made its way onto his face as he reached up and was helped up, "the pleasure's all mine."

He thought that this would last forever.

How wrong he was.

* * *

Nya  
Yay! An update again! XD I'm slowly picking up my pace again. Enjoy!


	5. Satsuki Ame

Acacia

Chapter IV: Satsuki Ame

Golden eyes blinked over his breakfast toast, "a sleepover?"

It was just about summer when Satoshi brought up the idea of a sleepover. The younger boy nodded, "Niwa was telling me about them the other day, apparently you invite friends over to stay the night, the name speaks for itself really."

Krad regarded his brother for a moment, "so when is it?"

The blue haired boy watched as his bread popped out of toaster. Still half asleep, he made a grab for it and tossed it onto his plate with a slight wince. Sucking on his burnt finger, he continued his explanation, "I think it's tonight at Niwa's. He said that because it was the end of the school year, we should all get together and do something fun. That sounds like something he'd say, doesn't it?"

The blond nodded, "yes it does, he's a nice kid. You can go if you want to. I mean, you don't have work or anything tonight, anyways. It sounds like fun. Now hurry up and finish your breakfast or else we'll be late for school."

"Right," Satoshi took a bite out of his piece of toast, more awake than he was a few moments ago. He was trying to suppress the excited grin that was tugging at his lips. This didn't escape his older brother who merely watched him finish his breakfast with a fond smile on his face.

* * *

The final bell had gone and he was packing up his books when a loud voice interrupted, "Canceled? Daisuke, what do you mean it's canceled?"

Blue eyes watched as Takeshi shook the redhead by the shoulders. Daisuke gave a rueful smile, "well…it's just that my cousin, Towa-chan's visiting…and see, she's got this thing for clean houses and our house wasn't exactly clean. So right now, she's on a cleaning frenzy with mom. And then when they're done, they're going to go shopping for new sets of cuttlery and stuff and they'll probably rearrange the furniture too. Actually, Dark got kicked out of his room yesterday because it was too messy and Towa-chan spent the whole night trying to clean it. She only managed to clean the top of his desk during that time… We can still have a sleepover, but I just think it'd be better if we moved it somewhere else."

Takeshi pursed his lips, "I guess I understand…if your cousin was amazingly scary enough to scare even your brother out of his room, it might not be safe for us, hm?"

The redhead laughed weakly, "Yea, you can say she's somewhat of a demon when it comes to cleanliness."

His friend nodded, "I'd like to say we can use my house but we've had this huge ant infestation ever since Tuesday so I doubt anyone wants to sleep on the floor or anywhere else there. Actually, that was part of the reason why I got so excited over a sleepover. I really wanted to get away from those ants. And Keiji came down with a cold yesterday, so I guess it'll only be me, you and Hikari."

The two looked over at him and he put down his book, "We can probably use my house if you want…so long as Saehara doesn't bring any ants over."

"Seriously? You're the best!" Takeshi gave a wide grin and ran over to hug him, but thanks to his reflexes, he managed to push his textbook into the boy's arms instead. While hugging Satoshi's text, he looked over, "hey Daisuke, I have something I have to do, other than shower before I go to Hikari's I mean. So would you mind cleaning up the art room for me? Please?"

Red eyes blinked, "what? Didn't I help you last week already?"

Takeshi clapped his hands together and begged, "Please Daisuke? Dai-chan, you're my only hope…and my best friend in the world…"

Reluctantly, Daisuke gave up without much of a fight, "fine, I'll help you…again."

"Great! I'll see you guys tonight then!"

Once he was out the door, Satoshi blinked, "Does he even know where I live?"

The redhead laughed and shook his head, "I have no idea, he'll probably find out one way or another, and if not, it's his own fault for forgetting to ask such an important question, right?"

Sighing, he packed up the rest of his things, "I can help you clean the art room if you'd like. I've got nothing to do anyways."

Daisuke smiled, "thanks, that'd help a lot, I should probably go tell Dark I'm staying behind first."

Satoshi nodded, "I'll come with. I need to tell Krad and he's probably with your brother."

"I still can't believe they're together."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

When informed, the elder two blinked, "A sleepover at our house?"

"A sleepover at Krad's house?"

The blond gave a shrug, "that sounds fine with me."

Dark grinned, "Do I get to come too? I mean I'm technically room-less right now since Towa-chan still hasn't finished raiding my room yet."

Krad looked over at his brother who replied with a shrug, then he looked back at Dark and nodded, "sure, you can come if you want to."

Daisuke watched his brother's grin widened as he tugged on the blonde's hand, "great, let's go by my house first and pick up some stuff then we can just go to your place. Oh, you'll have to watch out for Towa-chan though, if she sees you, she might be all over you. Hopefully not physically though, it's a little too hot for that right now." Then he glanced back and called out, "I'll see you later then, Dai."

He nodded and smiled, "I'll see you later."

As the two began to clean and sort the art supplies, Daisuke looked over at his friend, "will your parents mind us sleeping over at your house tonight?"

Satoshi shook his head, "I don't know who my father is or was, and my mother died last year…she'd been sick for a long time so it was only a matter of time…"

His eyes widened, "oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

The blue haired boy shook his head again, "no, it's okay…" there was a pause, "ah, I've made things awkward…sorry…" he looked up, "truthfully, I don't really mind not having parents. Because my mother's always been sick and couldn't really spend any time with us, Krad was the one who took care of the both of me and my mother. He basically raised me even though he's only a couple years older."

Daisuke stared in amazement, "Your brother's amazing, he's practically the opposite of _my_ brother. Dark's been teasing me since he learned how to talk." He let out a laugh, "you know…those two make quite the pair. Dark and Krad-san. Actually, to be honest, this is the longest relationship my brother's ever had. Before, he used to go out with all these girls and it'd never last over two dates, which, depending on how far apart they were spread out, was how long their relationship was. The longest one he had was probably two weeks long. But now, I think he really likes your brother."

Satoshi nodded, "I hope so, they have quite a story too. It's anything but cliché. Meeting because of your mother…"

"And how she kidnapped Krad-san?" The redhead gave an embarrassed grin, "yea, well, that was because she and Dark were arguing over…"

And the two spent the rest of their time in the art room laughing over Emiko's tactics and habits and the results of them.

* * *

Finally escaping Towa's grasp of cleanliness, the two were downstairs by the door when the girl came down and glared at Dark. Giving a sheepish grin, he pulled the other outside and the two walked towards their last destination for the day. There was a sudden gust of wind and raindrops began dripping onto their heads, causing them to look up at the still blue sky. Dark looked over at the blond, "we're still pretty far from your house, do you want to go back and grab an umbrella or something?"

Krad smiled and shook his head, "it's fine, it's just rain. We can just change when we get there. Anyways, this early summer rain feels pretty nice in the heat, doesn't it?"

Suddenly, the sun completely disappeared and it started raining heavily. The two stared at each other, with their hair dripping and clothes soaking wet, they continued walking. Luckily, within a couple minutes, the rain had passed and the sun reappeared with a rainbow beside it. The violet haired boy glanced over at the stunned look on the blonde's face and began laughing while wide golden eyes focused on him for a few moments before he too started laughing. Dark rubbed the back of his neck, still chuckling, "well that was ironic…I'd give you my shirt but it's kind of wet."

The blond smiled, "that's fine, we're almost there anyways."

* * *

When the two finally made it back to Satoshi's house, Daisuke stared in amazement at the interior, "this is amazing! I never knew you lived in such a big house, and it's so nicely decorated too!"

Blue eyes glanced over, "it's not that impressive…it's not like any of the paintings were actually expensive since they were all painted by my family…" as he led the redhead up the stairs, he could hear laughter coming from the room at the end of the hallway. It was utilized as their storage room, for old pieces of art or simply things they didn't use. The two exchanged looks and made their way towards the room. Inside, their brothers were sitting around, snickering over something in Dark's hands. As they neared, his eyes widened, "isn't that my…"

"Elephant!" Daisuke gasped at the familiar sight of the smiling elephant.

Krad turned around, amusement evident in his eyes, "Oh, Satoshi, Daisuke, welcome home, we were just admiring your old drawing here."

Satoshi looked over at the redhead who looked just as amazed as him, "huh? You've seen my old drawing before…?" Then he took a moment to think about the childish initials that had been scribbled onto his elephant, "wait…don't tell me D.N. stood for Daisuke Niwa…" he scratched the back of his head in bewilderment, "I would've thought your brother would be the one to do something like this…"

Daisuke just stood there, somewhat embarrassed and somewhat surprised in a delighted way because he got to see the elephant again, "Umm…"

Luckily for him, his brother spoke for him, "Aren't you happy to see it again, Dai? Isn't this the elephant that made you like art in the first place? You know, turned you into 'le gay artiste' and what not. Aren't you lucky that me and Krad were talking about you guys and art the other day and happened to find out that the elephant you drew on was in fact, this one?"

The shorter boy glanced over at his friend, "Hikari-kun…sorry…"

The blue haired boy blinked, "Why?"

"Because I drew on your elephant? Arent you mad?"

There was a moment of silence before Satoshi began laughing softly, "of course not, it looks happier this way, doesn't it? I didn't think I'd ever find out who put such a big smile on the elephant. You can have it if you'd like, I mean, it's just going to sit and collect dust in our house."

Daisuke's eyes lit up, "really? Can I?"

Krad smiled, "You can take it home with you tomorrow. I'll go start on dinner. Satoshi, why don't you give Daisuke a tour of this place?" Then he blinked, "didn't you say there was another person coming?"

Satoshi shrugged, "who knows if he'll actually come or not? Come on Niwa, I'll show you around. And I guess Dark will…"

The taller boy ruffled his hair, earning him an annoyed look, "I'll go help Krad since I already got the grand tour. Have fun Dai-chan, this place is _huge_!"

* * *

Daisuke looked around in astonishment. Each piece of artwork that decorated the house was, as far as he was concerned, flawless. He watched as his classmate opened one of the doors and gestured inside, "this is Krad's art room where he basically does everything."

He looked inside. There were canvases everywhere, some with amazing paintings painted on, some only half finished, and others blank. He gaped at the paintings that were only halfway to completion, they were already incredible and beyond his skills, "your brother's amazing…I wish I could paint half as well as he could," he gave a small laugh, "maybe he can give me pointers or something sometime."

Satoshi smiled, "he'll do it if you ask. He'd probably even give you lessons if you wanted," he must've been fidgeting and looking nervous because his friend added, "don't worry, it's not like he's that strict of a teacher. Anyways, you're welcome here anytime, if you wanted to watch him paint or anything."

The redhead grinned excitedly, "I can't wait. I think I'll ask him about it later."

The blue haired boy nodded and brought him to the next room, "this was my mother's room…that painting there was done by Krad in memory of her but we don't really come in here that much."

Daisuke looked inside wordlessly, there was a large canopy bed in the middle of the room, bathed in an eerie orange glow as the sun began to set outside. And behind the bed, a large painting hung there. It was of a beautiful woman with pale blue hair, it looked almost icy, the painting made him shiver, bringing pictures of a winter morning to his head. She was smiling gently, and a soft ray of light was shining on her, creating the illusion of a halo on her head, and on her back was a pair of wings, soft and unfocused, making him wonder if they really were wings at all.

Without another word the two continued to the next room. But for the rest of the night, the only thing he could think about was that beautiful woman and whether or not she really was an angel.

In the end, Takeshi didn't show up after all. And when it was too late for them to stay awake, with their eyelids drooping and threatening to close, they made their way to the uninhabited master bedroom which had the biggest bed and the most room for the four of them. They crawled under the covers with the Niwa brothers in the middle and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Later that night, the redhead stirred as he heard something beside him. He blinked groggily and looked over at Satoshi who gave an inaudible whimper before opening his eyes and propping onto his elbows to look around. Giving a weary sigh, the blue haired boy plopped back down and turned around, mumbling so quietly to himself that he found himself straining to hear the words, "it's okay, calm down, he's alright, he's still here, he's still alive…"

Soon, the other's breathing slowed and he slipped back to sleep whereas Daisuke laid there, eyes trained on the ceiling. _What? __What __did __he __mean __by __that__…__?__It __was __probably __just __a __nightmare, __right?_

* * *

It wasn't until near the end of summer when problems began to arise. The two were leaving the café, the one that they'd claimed as 'theirs' not long ago and had decided to walk by the beach. That was when Dark looked over at the blond and noticed that he was staring off at the ocean. He wouldn't have paid it any attention if the other didn't look so pale and completely lost in his thoughts, "Krad…?"

The blond gave a slight jump and blinked a couple times at him, "yes?"

He shot the other a concerned look, "What's on your mind? I mean, are you feeling alright? You look kind of pale and completely zoned out. Maybe we should get you back home and do this another day…"

Krad shook his head and smiled, gently taking his hand into his own, assuring him with that soft voice of his, "it's nothing, I was just thinking, that's all. It's nothing. Come on, let's keep going, I mean, summer's almost over, right? There's no point in wasting it."

Dark nodded and gave a small grin, feeling a little less anxious, "yea, it'll be fun, in a couple weeks, we'll be back in school and I'll be copying the homework I forgot to do off you or some other kid and falling asleep in class, I can't wait."

He didn't see how the other's smile faltered slightly at that, "yea…"

* * *

Krad opened the door when the other dropped him off at his house, "did you want to come in?"

"Nah, it's almost time for dinner, can't miss that-as much as I love your cooking," he grinned and turned around, "I'll call you later or something, okay? Bye!"

He had a happy smile on his face as he walked home and he didn't see golden eyes narrowing slightly as his retreating form before blinking a couple times, and then narrowing again, almost as though the owner was trying to focus them.

* * *

Then it happened.

About a week before school started, he'd gone out with the blond when the other suddenly stopped walking. He blinked and turned around, "Krad?"

Golden eyes were focused on the ground as he spoke softly, "Dark…"

A frown slowly etched its way onto his face, "…yes?"

"I don't think this is going to work out for us…maybe we should stop seeing each other…"

* * *

Nya

Haha! Let's begin with the angst now and head into the tragic-ness! I really shouldn't say this with !'s :P Ugh, school started...again, it happens every year XD But I'll try to update, I really will! Unlike last year...(looks away)...yes, anyways, I'm really out of it right now since I'm no longer used to waking up with the sun, or waking up at all for that matter. Maybe I should sleep earlier...what was I saying? Oh yea, thanks for people who continue to read, thanks even more for people who review (8D) and just thanks in general! Enjoy!

Oh and to translate the titles/song names, _ao__no__sekai_ is blue/green world (aoi (too lazy to write it out) is generally blue but if you go to Japan it's actually greenish, like trafic lights, that green's considered aoi). _Kasa__kurage_ is umbrella jellyfish, and _umi__no__ballad_ is ocean ballad. And this one, _satsuki__ame_ is early summer rain. Yea, that's all for now, thanks.


	6. Moratorium

Acacia

Chapter V: Moratorium

Daisuke immediately knew something was wrong with his brother when he not only came back early, but then promptly stormed off to his now spotless room. After awhile, when he was pretty sure the elder had settled down a little, he shuffled up the stairs and knocked softly on his door. "Dark…? Are you alright?" There was an incoherent grunt from the other side of the door, he furled his brows, "what? I'm coming in…"

Once inside, he found his brother lying on his bed glaring at the ceiling, amethyst eyes looked over, anger, sadness, confusion, and hurt written all over his features. The elder let out a sullen "Hey Daisuke."

He frowned anxiously, "what happened?"

Dark gave a sigh and shook his head, "I have no idea, one second we were just out doing what we normally did and the next thing I know, he's suddenly all serious and, well you can guess. And then obviously, I figured it was my fault but then he kept insisting that that wasn't it and that it had nothing to do with me. Damn, I was serious about him too."

Daisuke sat down beside his brother with a sympathetic expression on his face, "I know you were, I've never seen you go on more than two dates with the same person before, remember? If it's any consolation, Krad-san's definitely missing out since he's the only one to have seen your serious side. I can ask Hikari-kun about it later if you'd like."

The elder gave another sigh and rolled over to face the wall, "thanks, Dai-chan."

* * *

That night, while eating dinner, Emiko looked over with a worried frown, "Dark, is something wrong? You're awfully quiet today, and you've only eaten half of what you normally eat. Are you sick?"

Dark shook his head and set his bowl down, "nothing's wrong. I'm just not that hungry."

His mother inhaled sharply, "you _must_ be sick or…or," covering her mouth in shock, she stood up and beamed proudly at her elder son, "could it be? After all this time and all those confrontations, you're finally hearing my words!" The table turned and stared at her. "You're thinking about coming out of the closet, aren't you? But you're confused, lost and afraid-like the kids in all those TV shows! Don't worry, you can come out and your family will still accept and love you! My Dark-chan's finally accepting the facts!"

Towa gasped and looked over, "Dark, you never told me that you were gay! And I've been over for the longest time now too! When did this happen? Is he pretty like Krad-san-or even prettier? Is it Krad-san? Please tell me it's him, he's just so pretty! Has it been over two dates?"

Slamming his hands on the table, Dark stood up as well and scowled at his cousin and his mother, "First of all, what's with everyone and me going on more than two dates with the same person? Second, Towa, I didn't tell you anything because I am _not_ gay! And mother, what kind of shows have you been watching? I may be lost and confused in this world but not about my sexual orientation! Why are you so obsessed with having a gay son anyways?"

Emiko sighed, "The mothers seemed so proud of their sons on those shows! And they have such adventurous lives…"

"Then what about Dai-chan?"

"How can you even think of that? He's still too young for all of that!"

Dark gaped, "What? So you're saying that when he turns my age, he'll start questioning himself and all that?" After a moment, he ran his hand through his hair, "this is ridiculous, I'm going to my room." On his way out, he nudged his brother and murmured quietly with a snicker, "Hey Dai, did you hear? You're well ahead of your age."

Face reddening, Daisuke glared at his brother and mentioned 'offhandedly' as he took a bite of his dinner, "Dark's just upset because he had a fight with Krad-san."

Their mother let out a gasp and immediately turned to him with an accusing look on her face, "What? You had a fight with Krad? How could you even think about hurting that pretty face? What'd you do?"

Amethyst eyes narrowed, "It wasn't a physical fight! And how do you know it's my fault to begin with?"

Emiko scoffed, "well it certainly wouldn't have been _Krad-kun's_ fault, he's just so polite and…pretty. It _must've_ been your fault!"

Dark sighed, "My own mother's against me…"

The woman shook her head, "Now, now, I'm not against anyone, I just hate to see people ruin their friendships like that. This would all work out just fine if you two talked it over," the brothers narrowed their eyes in suspicion at how sensible she was sounding until "it'd all work out, you'll see. Should I go and bring Krad-kun here so you can ta-"

The both of them immediately shot up, "_**No!**_"

* * *

Lying in his bed, he continued to stare at the ceiling with a frown. It was alarming how fast he was able to adapt to the situation, it wasn't like he wanted to get over being depressed so quickly but it just seemed natural for him, especially after an argument like that. He knew they were just trying to take his mind off of everything but that wasn't what he wanted. Everything was reverting back to the time before he met Krad, and he had no control over it. "It's like it wasn't even that big of a deal or anything…" he muttered to himself.

There was a knock at the door causing him to turn his head, "Hm?"

"It's me."

"Oh hey Dai, something wrong?"

The redhead tossed his phone onto the bed, "looks like I can't ask Hikari-kun about it after all."

Blinking, he picked up the phone and read the messages.

_Hikari-kun?_

_**Yes?**_

_Can I ask you something?_

_**As long as it's not about Krad.**_

_Oh, never mind._

_**Alright.**_

_Goodnight._

_**See you tomorrow.**_

Dark looked over, "…you two have _terrible_ conversations. What's with all these one-liners? I swear Dai, I probably have more exciting conversations talking to a wall."

Jutting his lips out into a pout, Daisuke launched himself onto his brother, "Take that back! I'm not duller than a wall!"

Turning to the wall, the elder laughed, "Sorry, what was that?"

Grabbing his pillow, he laughed and gave the other a whack, "You're such a jerk, Dark!"

* * *

The following week, things returned back to normal. School reopened and Dark found himself in the same old seat he'd been in for a year now. Looking at the back of the room, he frowned. _Guess __he's __not __going __to __school __anymore__…_

"Hello class, it's nice to see you all back. I hope you all had a great summer and finished all your homework…"

His eyes widened and all of his attention ended up redirected at the teacher. _Crap!_

* * *

"Hey, is Krad's brother still at school?"

Daisuke looked over as they made their way home, puzzled at the question, "yea, why? Is Krad-san not in your class anymore?" Dark shook his head causing him to stare at the ground, "Oh…that's strange…you don't think something happened, do you?"

The elder looked over, "you're asking me? Has his brother been acting differently?"

The redhead shook his head, "he's still the same as always."

Dark raised a brow, "Oh? Then why aren't you hanging out with him?"

"He has work."

"He works?"

He nodded, "both of them work. Krad-san paints-apparently if you sell one of his larger paintings, you can get over fifty thousand dollars on it, isn't that amazing? And Hikari-kun works part-time at the police office. He used to work fulltime but he decided to cut back for school."

Amethyst eyes widened, "really? The kid works as a police?"

Daisuke nodded again, "he's the commander."

"…what? Are you serious? The commander…" he let out a whistle, "that's impressive. So if I ever become a thief, he'll be the one in charge of capturing me, hm? But that still doesn't beat getting fifty grand for a painting though, I knew Krad was good at painting, but I didn't know it was worth _that_ much. Hey Dai, you better be able to make that kind of money off your art someday. What does Krad paint anyways?"

"Doesn't he paint people? You're the one who always hung around him." He let out a sigh, "I don't think I could ever paint like Krad-san…he tried giving me lessons, all the techniques are the same but the way he does it still ends up way better than mine. The way he paints people…they look like angels. You've seen them, right?"

Dark dipped his head, "Yea, I saw a couple…like the one of his mother, right? I admit his art's amazing but…" he let out a huff, "what a depressing topic, I hate talking about exes, especially the ones that dumped me…actually, he's the only one that dumped me. Way to ruin my mood, Daisuke, and I have a date later too."

He stared at his brother in disbelief, "It's the first day of school and you already have a date?"

A grin, "did you expect anything less?"

Daisuke sighed, "I suppose not…you're unbelievable…so other than the fact that you forgot to do your summer homework, did anything else interesting happen to you in your class today?"

"Nope, what about you?"

"Well I heard from Saehara-kun that Kurashina-san won't be coming to school anymore either. She's been away since last year, but it's because she's sick…I hope she gets better soon…"

* * *

"You have a visitor, Krad."

Golden eyes glanced over from his artwork, "oh? Shouldn't you be at work?"

The younger boy nodded, "I should, but I still have half an hour before I have to get there."

Brushing the bangs out of his face, he set the brush down and got up, "who's at the door anyways? Is it a guest or a customer?"

A shrug, "She doesn't look like a customer but it's no one I recognize so…"

Blinking, the blond made his way down the stairs, "that's strange…go get ready for work, Sato, or you'll be late."

Giving a huff, the younger did as he was told, "I'm not a kid, Krad, I can take care of myself."

The blond smiled, "I know you can but that doesn't change the fact that you'll be late if you don't go and get ready. I'll be downstairs." He made his way down the stairs and walked into the living room and looked at the stranger curiously. It was a girl close to Satoshi's age, her long blonde hair looked limp and her face pale as she sat there, fidgeting with her fingers. He noted the dullness of her character; she was too thin with her sunken cheeks and boney arms. She looked deathly sick. She didn't notice his presence even as he stood beside her, so he let out gently, "Hello, I'm Hikari Krad. I believe you were looking for me? How may I help you?"

The girl gave a start and turned to him with pleading eyes, "you're Hikari-sama? Umm, actually, I was hoping you would paint a portrait…I-I don't have very much money but please, I don't care if you use the worst material possible and the smallest canvas, can you paint me a portrait?"

Krad blinked at the request, "who would you like a portrait of?"

"Me." Despite her obvious illness, her eyes were still bright, "you must've noticed it already, that I'm sick. Don't worry, it's not contagious, I promise you. But I…the doctors have already said that I probably won't make it through another month and I heard that you paint angels. Is it true? Because if it is, I want a portrait of myself! It's, it's for my parents…so they'll know what I look like in heaven, and so that they'll know I'll always be there with them…I…I know your paintings are expensive but I don't want my parents to worry about me afterwards like I know they will. And I wanted to thank them for everything they've done for me, so…" taking out an old wallet with shaky hands, she held back her tears, "I'm sorry, this is all I've been able to save up so…please…just anything you're willing to offer, Hikari-sama…"

From upstairs, Satoshi watched, curious as to what his brother would do next. The girl clearly didn't have enough to buy anything they had to offer. The elder was motionless for a moment before laying his hand on the girl's head softly with a smile, "you must be the bravest person I've ever met…it's fine, don't worry about the money. I'll see what blank canvas I have lying around, you can choose which one you want from there. What's your name? I'll need to know who I'll be naming the painting after."

He watched as her face brightened, her blue eyes shining through the tears, "It's Menou, Kurashina Menou! I don't know how to thank you enough, Hikari-sama!"

Krad rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile on his lips, "just make sure you smile like that for the painting, alright? Come on, let's go find you a canvas." As he led her up the stairs, he passed his brother, "Sato? If there are anymore customers, please let them know that I've just taken in my last client. Be careful at work." Satoshi nodded, earning him a confused look from the girl as she followed his brother up. Walking into his studio, he looked around and grabbed a couple of blank canvas, "Have a seat over there, please. Now which size would you prefer? The measurements probably don't matter to you, so which one do you like more?"

Hesitantly, the girl picked one and sat down on the chair. She watched as the painter set up his tools and began mapping out his plan. Glancing around the room, she found herself surrounded by art, "i-if you're busy with other people, I can always come back another time…"

The blond didn't answer right away, "it's fine, I always work on several paintings at once…anyways, time is what you don't have, isn't it? I promise you, I'll have this finished within a month."

* * *

"What? You dumped her already? Didn't you _just_ go out? Dark, you've just set a new record for yourself, half a date!"

The elder sighed and continued practicing his swings, "You make me sound like a villain. I couldn't help it. She was cute and all, but in the end, she really wasn't my type. Don't worry though, there weren't any hard feelings or anything. It was a very clean break off."

Daisuke let out a sigh and sat down on the grass with his sketchbook, "is that why you're practicing in the front yard?"

"It's a nice day and there's nothing else to do now. That date was supposed to take up at least a couple hours of my day, but I left after an hour so now I have to find another way to spend my time."

After awhile of silence, the redhead looked up from his drawing, "…hey Dark…"

"Yea?"

"Are you never going to talk to Krad-san again?"

Stopping mid-swing, he turned and looked over, "I never said anything even remotely close to that. And it's not like I don't want to talk to him or anything, but I haven't seen him since he broke things off, talk about a clean break…"

The younger boy blinked, "oh…"

"Why?"

"It's been really quiet and I was just thinking that you guys were really good together…even just as friends…you two always seemed to have something to talk about and like mom said, seeing your friendship end like that…I don't like it."

Noticing his brother's saddened tone, Dark let out a huff and set his equipment down. Walking over to his brother, he sat down beside him and ruffled his hair affectionately, "stupid, you're getting more upset over this than I am." Violet eyes glanced down at the drawing and smiled, "not bad Dai, maybe you have talent after all. You're probably thinking that that guy's lonely, right? Don't worry about it so much, I'll contact him somehow, alright? So you don't have to draw pictures of all of us together anymore."

Crimson eyes looked over, "you promise?"

"Yea, I promise, even if we're all just friends-_but_, obviously I'd rather we not just be friends, so you're going to have to give me to time to work up a genius scheme, alright?"

Daisuke smiled and nodded, "as long as you promise."

* * *

Glancing at the clock, he asked, "shouldn't you get home soon, Kurashina-san?"

The girl perked up, "oh, I probably should! But you're not finished…"

Krad shook his head, "I didn't expect to finish in a day. Do you think you can come back another time? Maybe just once or twice more then it should be done. Would you like to see what's been finished so far?"

Blue eyes looked up curiously, "May I?"

A faint shrug, "It's your painting."

"But it's your 'artwork'."

The blond blinked before smiling, "That's true I suppose, thank you for your consideration. Though I admit, you're surprisingly lively, Kurashina-san. Here, this is only the first layer though," he turned the canvas around to show the girl.

Letting out a gasp, Menou covered her mouth in awe, "is that…really me?"

He nodded in confirmation, "Yes it is, or I hope it is."

The girl managed to give a happy smile through her tears, "…I don't look sick, Hikari-sama, this is amazing! I really can't thank you enough!"

Krad put the canvas back onto the stand and stretched, "no need, we're not even close to finishing it yet."

She stared in disbelief, "Not even close? I probably would've been happy with just this."

The elder ran a hand through his bangs, trying to push them out of his face with a frown, "that wouldn't do at all. This is my 'artwork' after all and you're my client so there's no way I'd let you walk away with an incomplete piece of art."

Menou leaned back in her chair to think, wiping away the tears she pursed her lips, "Client…oh, Hikari-sama, you said that I was your last client, what did you mean?"

The blond looked up from putting his tools away and shook his head, "hn? It's nothing you really need to concern yourself with, it's just that I might-no, I'll probably be retiring soon."

* * *

Nya~

Look a quick update! I've definitely gotten back into fanfic mode as of lately...not sure why, but oh well. I've also developed a habit of updating in the middle of the night, I've become nocturnal! Other than that...is it just me or has the DN Angel section of become rather quiet lately? It's kind of depressing actually...oh well! I will probably love it forever and ever so be expecting more from me I guess. Ah...I'm out of things to say...my toes are freezing...enjoy!


	7. Acacia

Acacia

Chapter VI: Acacia

After the girl left, he dragged his feet down the halls and paced around until he lost track of time. Stretching, he looked around the empty house and sighed, it felt too big for a single person, for two people even. It wasn't as noticeable in the day but after the sun set, he couldn't help but wish there were more people. Then suddenly, the door opened, causing his gaze to shift towards the entrance, "ah, Satoshi, you're back early."

The blue haired boy shrugged, "there was nothing to do at work so I left. Did you eat yet?"

Krad shook his head and made his way down the stairs, "No, I was just walking around to clear my head."

The younger boy furled his brows slightly as he made his way towards the kitchen, "you were walking around the house? Why not walk outside? …whatever, something you want to talk about?"

A shrug, "not really…I just never thought of my art as angelic or anything before."

"I suppose everyone sees things differently."

The blond smiled wistfully as he sat down and sprawled himself over the table. Watching the younger boy cook, "you're probably right, especially since she's ill, hm? Hey Sato, would you like me to draw you some time? I'll do it free of charge."

Satoshi wrinkled his nose as he threw a glance back at his brother, "no thanks, I'd rather not know what I'm going to look like after I die."

Krad laughed, "Didn't you just say that everyone sees things differently? Well if you really don't like thoughts of angels and heaven, I'm sure I can make it darker…add some black and red to it…would that be more appealing to you? Maybe I can draw horns on you too and flames in the background."

Sapphire eyes narrowed, "what an excellent idea. And how about I burn your food to match the theme?"

The elder held his hands up in defeat, "joking, Sato."

Satoshi snorted and turned his attention back to the stove, grumbling as he did, "Why am I cooking anyways? You were just walking around while I was at work."

The blond shrugged, "I thought you were cooking because you were hungrier than me." Suddenly his phone buzzed. Blinking, he pulled it out of his pocket and studied it for a moment. "Hm?"

"A call? Who's it from?"

He shook his head, "No, it's a message…from Dark."

_Fact #1 that you didn't know about Dark:_

_He never goes out with the same person for more than 2 dates._

Satoshi wasn't sure how to react to the message, "that's…"

* * *

"…so random Dark, I don't get it…"

The elder looked over at the redhead and grinned, "And that's why you don't get dates on the first and second and third and forth day of school, Dai-chan."

The redhead snorted, "Not that any of them worked out."

A shrug, "it was worth a try."

Daisuke frowned, "how's he supposed to reply to that anyways? It's so out of the blue…"

Amethyst eyes glittered confidently, "Just watch and learn. It's a little trickier since he's a boy and he's really smart, you can't just say something cheesy and wait for results. In the end, it doesn't really matter if he replies or not, all that matters is my next message."

"And when are you going to send _that_?"

"…I guess in a few days or something, if you send one right after another, it loses its effects. I mean when you're waiting to open Christmas presents, there's that excitement in you that grows because you have to wait, right? He's going to wonder if there's going to be another message and within a few days, he'll have sort of forgotten about it and then bam, a pleasant surprise."

The redhead looked over skeptically, "your messages will be a pleasant surprise? How can you be so sure of that?"

"Because it's from me, obviously. I'm kidding, even if it isn't a pleasant surprise for him, he'll find it interesting for sure. It's because he's sure to pick up the pattern," he quickly added, face reddening slightly, "yes, this is how much thought I put into this, there's even a pattern, Dai. Shut up."

Daisuke grinned, "I've never seen you embarrassed like this before. But then again, after having been through this, it feels like I'm getting to know a whole new you. Don't worry, it's a good thing."

Dark pursed his lips, "thanks? Oh, I have practice tomorrow so you're on your own, alright?"

"Yea, I'll see if Hikari-kun wants to hang out for awhile…unless I get stuck with cleaning duty again…"

* * *

After school, Daisuke was finishing up the classroom clean up duties when he began talking idly, "I wonder what this year's play's going to be. I didn't think they'd start this early but I guess it's also good since we'll have a lot of time to prepare for it this way…and thanks for waiting for me again, Hikari-kun."

Satoshi looked up from his book as he sat on the desk, "anytime…but one thing bothers me. Why is it that _you're_ always stuck with cleaning duty? It's not even your turn today."

The redhead let out a small laugh, "I'm not sure either, it just seems to happen…all the time." After he finished, he glanced over at the other boy who continued staring at his book without reading a word, "…want to talk about it?"

Sapphire eyes blinked in surprise, "what do you mean?"

Daisuke reddened slightly, "something seems to be bothering you, and you've always been there to listen to my rants, so I was just wondering if I could be of any help, I guess. I mean, if it's something you can't deal with by yourself, I can try to help or something. Sorry if that came out really weird, Dark calls me socially awkward sometimes, this is probably why…sorry."

The blue haired boy could only sit and stare at the other for a moment before laughing, "You're not awkward at all. Thank you though, I'll definitely find you if there's something I can't handle…but right now, everything's still fine. I was just kind of lost in thought, sorry if I worried you."

He shook his head, "there's no need to apologize, really."

Satoshi put his book down and smiled thoughtfully, "You know, I'm glad I went back to do high school, because otherwise, I would've never met you."

Daisuke blushed and stared at his shoes for awhile before remembering something, "Hikari-kun, awhile ago, you said that the reason you're in school again is for someone important?"

The boy adjusted his glasses, "yes, what about it?"

"Who was that important person?" He asked curiously, but then immediately added, "Of course, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"It's Krad."

Crimson eyes blinked, "Krad-san?"

Satoshi nodded, "yea…well for me, it's for Krad. For Krad, it was probably for our mother. I didn't really know her since for as far back as I remember, she's been sick and Krad's been the one who's had to take care of me. He pretty much raised me while taking care of her, not to mention he had a job…and we since we both got accepted into university at an early age, neither of us ever really had friends our own age. But before mother passed away, she mentioned how it'd be nice to see us living normal lives and going to school and making friends like regular children…so that's what we did."

"But if that's what she wanted why isn't Krad-san…?"

For a moment, the taller boy looked out the window to avoid eye contact, "Oh, that…he can't make it to school anymore. But I'm pretty sure that from the start, he was more concerned for me coming here and making friends than he was about himself, that's just the way he is."

* * *

_Fact #2 that you didn't know about Dark:_

_He never takes the initiative to reestablish contact with someone after a break up._

"Hmm…?" Krad smiled curiously at the text just as the front door opened. He put his phone away and returned his attention to the canvas in front of him, "welcome back, Satoshi. How was school?"

His brother poked his head into the room a moment later with an indifferent look on his face, "same as always, we decided to do 'Ice and Snow' as this year's play though. We're choosing the cast tomorrow and Niwa volunteered to paint the backdrop and he was wondering if you'd help him out sometime."

"I wouldn't mind at all."

Satoshi watched as his brother dipped his brush into the paint, "That's what I told him. So how did it go this morning?"

A shrug, "same as always…" giving the painting a few finishing touches, he leaned back and nodded approvingly, "there, that looks about right. Come over here, Satoshi, what do you think?"

The blue haired boy blinked, "it's amazing as always…is it just me or are there less canvas in the room? Normally it's super chaotic in here, and it's not as chaotic right now. Should I go out and buy more canvas for you?"

Krad shook his head, "I'm just finishing as many pieces as I can…"

The younger boy remained silent as he watched his brother give a wistful sigh as he signed the piece.

* * *

A week later, the girl returned during the day, looking a little paler than she had before. Krad frowned as he set everything up. And as he painted, Menou continued looking deep in thought until suddenly, she asked, "Hikari-sama…do you think I'll go to heaven after I die?"

The question had come unexpectedly causing golden eyes blinked and stared at the girl for a moment before he nodded reassuringly, "don't worry, you definitely will. I can almost promise you."

Giving a weary sigh, the girl smile and muttered something that he couldn't catch. But she kept that satisfied smile on her lips until she left. "Just one more time, right?"

Krad dipped his head, "well, it's optional, but if you'd like, you can come in anytime."

Menou bowed politely as she stood in front of the door, "thank you, Hikari-sama. Even though I've only been here twice, it's going to be strange not coming to your house anymore. I've never met anyone as kind as you."

He rubbed the back of his neck before giving a brotherly smile, "and I've never met anyone as brave as you." She smiled and leaned in, whispering something to him before bowing again and walking off. Wide golden eyes watched as the girl in red slowly disappeared down the street, "how…?"

* * *

He had retreated back inside and was lounging around when the doorbell rang. Sighing in annoyance, he walked over to the door and opened it. Looking down, he did a double take at the two. "…Satoshi, can you explain to me why you're dressed like Dark," then he looked at the figure behind his brother and furled his brows, "and Daisuke, why are you in a dress? It's not Halloween yet."

Satoshi looked at him indifferently though his eyes spoke otherwise, "I thought it'd be fun to surprise you. This is for the play I told you about, 'Ice and Snow'? I got the male lead and Niwa got the female lead, except they changed Elliot into Dark and Freedert's still Freedert."

The blond nodded slowly, trying to contain his amusement, "which is Daisuke…the leading lady how…fitting. And you two walked all the way here from school, dressed like that? Anyone that's seen you must be thinking about what a cute pair you make." Then he turned to the redhead and had to cover his grin with his hand as he spoke, "Would you like anything to drink, leading lady-san?"

Daisuke's face reddened, "i-it was Hikari-kun's idea!"

Putting on a surprised look, he faced his brother, "Sato? You put him up to this? I never knew you were such a sadist," then he ruffled their hair, "poor Daisuke-kun, you can go get changed you know, I'll go make you two something to drink."

After they changed Daisuke found the brothers in the kitchen, "actually, Krad-san, I was wondering if you'd help me with the backdrop…"

The blond nodded, "of course."

* * *

Dark's eyes widen as he turned to stare at his brother in disbelief. Grabbing the shorter boy by the shoulders, he shook him violently, "What? What do you mean you went to Krad's house and saw him and he gave you pointers on how to paint a snowy backdrop for your school play?"

Daisuke held his hands up in defense, "Calm down, Dark!"

"But you got to see him! How am I supposed to calm down? I haven't gone on a date for weeks now because of him and here _you_ are getting art advice from him! Daisuke, if you don't tell me every single detail, I'm going to murder you in the grossest way possible! I'll lop off your arms and barbeque them and then force you to eat them or something!"

* * *

Later that night, he received another message from Dark.

_Fact #3 that you never knew about Dark:_

_He's never jealous of his brother for spending more time than him with someone-even if it's only for art advice._

He smiled.

* * *

A few days later, Satoshi returned from school, running into the house in an urgent manner. The noise caused Krad to step out of his studio, "Satoshi? What happened?"

The blue haired boy looked up at him from the bottom of the stairs, "Krad, it's Kurashina-san. I heard from Saehara that she's really, really sick. No one don't knows how long she's going to last…"

Golden eyes widened, "what?" After a moment of thinking, he looked at his brother, "can you get me her address for me from this Saehara person? I'll have the painting done by tomorrow."

Satoshi shot him a confused look, "Krad…?"

The blond turned around and headed back to his den, "I'll be making a personal delivery."

* * *

When Satoshi woke up for school the next morning, he crept into his brother's studio to check up on him. And he found the blond asleep against the stand where he kept his extra paint and brushes, hand and hair partially dipped in paint as he let out slow and even breaths. Satoshi sighed and returned to his room to grab a blanket for his brother. When he returned, he inspected the other again as he draped the blanket over him, "you're a mess…even your face is covered in paint."

The blond let out a quiet mumble and shifted a little.

Eyes moving towards the painting and the signature at the bottom right corner, he gave a small sigh, "you really did finish, didn't you? Hn…I guess you really do draw angels." He let out quietly, placing a slip of paper under the sleeping boy's cell phone, but not before reading the message. He held back a laugh, "I'm off to school then."

_Fact #4 that you never knew about Dark:_

_He never has the inability to stop thinking about a single person._

* * *

Golden eyes fluttered open. The sunlight was streaming in through the windows, momentarily blinding him. Groggily, he looked at the portrait and then his phone, then the piece of paper, then the portrait again in confusion before shooting up, "Kurashina-san, right!" As he stood up, he noticed that his hand felt wet and slightly slimy. Looking down, he found that it was covered in green paint. Slightly confused and horrified, he stumbled off to the bathroom to wash the paint off.

* * *

There was still dry paint crusts in his hair when he arrived at the address written on the piece of paper. Panting slightly, with the wrapped painting clutched tightly under his arm, he rang the doorbell.

"Hello?"

He looked over at the speakers, "…hello? This is Hikari Krad…I was hoping to see Kurashina Menou-san. I have something to give her."

The door opened, revealing a very weary faced woman who had been clearly crying earlier. Judging by her actions, she was probably more sleep deprived than he was, but she managed a weak smile anyway. "Are you a friend from school? Please come in, she's upstairs…please follow me." Krad nodded and quietly followed the woman up the stairs and down the hall. She knocked on the wooden door gently, "Menou? There's someone here to see you." The mother turned to him and nodded, "just head on in."

Giving his thanks, he walked into the room where the girl was lying in bed. She turned her head and spoke wearily, "Hikari-sama? I'm sorry I couldn't make it for the last session."

Krad shook his head, "it's fine, look," he unwrapped the painting and held it up, "your painting's finished. What do you think?"

Blue eyes widened as tears streamed down her cheeks. Menou covered her mouth for a moment, trying to find the right words to say. "This…it's really me…I don't look sick…I…Hikari-sama, thank you, I can't tell you how much this means to me. Thank you, thank you so much. I look so happy…and you came here to deliver it too…"

He shrugged, "It wasn't any trouble or anything…"

The blonde looked over at him, "but you look so tired, and you still have paint in your hair…and," she reached out, lightly touching the bangs that covered one of his eyes.

The elder frowned, "so you did notice, I thought you did."

Menou nodded and retracted her hand, "you seemed to be having a hard time adjusting to it…"

He smiled softly, "you're very observant, aren't you?"

"I wanted to see as much of this world as I could before, you know."

A nod.

The girl's smile wavered as she continued, "I…never really realized until now just how much I'm going to miss everyone. I'm going to miss my parents, my friends… I'm going to miss Hikari-sama, I'm going to miss attending classes and all my friends there." Her fists were clenched as she fought the fresh wave of tears, "To be honest, I don't want to go to heaven. I want to stay here with everyone. I'm happy _here._ I'm not brave, I'm really scared and it feels like I'm alone. I want my mother to hold me, I want someone to help me, to tell me that it'll be alright. I…I don't want to die…Hikari-sama, what do I do?"

The elder didn't have an answer for her question so he just sat there and listened until she wore herself out. Standing up, he placed the painting beside her and exhaled sadly, "I wouldn't know what to do either…and even if you say otherwise, I still think you're the bravest person I know."

Blue eyes lowered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that…"

He shook his head, "It's fine, it's better to let it out, but you look exhausted, so you should probably rest now. I'll come by again if I can."

Menou looked over at the painting then at him with a weak smile, "thank you…goodbye Hikari-sama."

"Goodbye Kurashina-san."

That was the last time he saw her.

* * *

Krad returned home a little later that day and looked around his studio. Somehow, it felt a lot emptier than it had before. Drained of energy, he sighed and left to wash the paint out of his hair before crawling into bed to sleep.

* * *

A week later, Daisuke and Dark attended her wake and funeral. Above her casket was a painting of her smiling down at everyone with sky blue tones in the background and the faintest hint of wings behind her. Violet eyes continued staring at it as her parents explained the significance of the painting to the group, reminiscing on how thoughtful Menou was even though she knew her time was limited.

Dark leaned over and whispered to his brother, "That's Krad's painting."

The redhead wiped the tears out of his eyes and looked up at the signature at the corner of the piece of art, "Krad-san knew Kurashina-san?"

He shrugged and remained silent.

* * *

Golden eyes were staring intensely at the different array of colors on the canvas when a voice called from the door, "So how did your check up go?"

Krad shifted is attention over at his brother and shrugged, "same as always."

The younger boy continued watching him from the doorway, "I heard from Niwa that Kurashina-san passed away awhile ago, not long after you delivered her painting. He attended her funeral last week."

There was no reply.

Satoshi pursed his lips as he tried to think of more to say, "Niwa said that her parents were really grateful for your painting, it helped them get over the grief a little faster."

Finally, there was a quiet answer, "…I'm glad."

He looked over at his brother worriedly, "I have to get to work, are you going to be alright, Krad?"

Krad gave a soft scoff, "I'm the older brother here, remember? Be careful at work."

Glancing at the blond one last time, he reluctantly left, "I will, bye."

After the younger boy was gone, he continued to stare at the canvas before giving a sullen sigh and burying his face in his hands.

* * *

The next day, Dark was walking home after practice and had decided to take a detour by the seaside. The sky was gray and droplets of rain began falling. Frowning, he opened his umbrella and continued walking until he came across a lonely figure curled up by himself on the stairs that led to the beach. His chest tightened slightly. Approaching the other slowly, he held his umbrella over the blond. "_Fact #9 that you didn't know about Dark: he never offers to be 'just friends' with someone he likes_…but you look like you could use one right about now. Mind if I join you?"

The other shook his head silently.

Taking the cue, he sat down next to the blond and held the umbrella over the both of them as the rain continued to fall. After a long while of silence, he finally asked, "Did something happen?"

He had to strain his ears to hear the other boy's reply.

"I…I can't paint anymore."

* * *

Nya~

Would you believe that I had this finished two dayys ago but due to technical difficulties with , I'll be updating today. What else? Oh no, school starts Tuesday! Other than that, let me voice/type out my appreciation to those who still read and those who review because I was going through my old fics and reviews while I was waiting for to fix the problem, and I realized that the amount of readers really has gone down compared to before but even so, I was super touched and happy thanks to the reviews I'm still getting. So for those of you stil reading and those of you still reviewing thanks a bunch. That was probably poorly phrased and awkwardly structured-not to mention vague and undescriptive, but if I went in depth, I'd ramble on and on and no one wants that. So all in all, I was at a low point and the reviews cheered me up; let's end this rant here. Thanks again and enjoy!


	8. Yume de Aetara

Acacia

Chapter VII: 夢で会えたら

"_I…I can't paint anymore."_

_His eyes widened as he looked over, "What? What do you mean?"_

_The blond curled up further, avoiding all eye-contact. "Well, not right at this moment, but soon, I don't think I'll be able to paint anymore. My eyes…I'm…what am I going to tell Satoshi, Dark?"_

"_I…"_

_Shaking his head, the other boy hastily stood up with an apologetic expression, "Sorry, I didn't mean to push any of this onto you. I should probably go now."_

_Without thinking, he leaned back, grasped the other's arm and blurted out, "just tell him the way you told me. If it's something this big, I think he'd appreciate the directness."_

* * *

Letting out a sigh, he rolled onto his back and stared listlessly at the ceiling. His mind was reeling and he couldn't stop thinking back on the events that happened earlier. He hadn't been expecting anything like that at all. It was all so sudden and he didn't even know where to begin dealing with something so big.

It scared him.

Shivering slightly, he rolled back onto his stomach and hugged his pillow tightly. The more he thought about it the more confused he got. A part of him was angry at Krad for keeping it from him and a part of him was angry at himself for not being able to do anything. Squeezing his eyes shut, he wished everything would just go away and fix itself up.

* * *

"Hello? Yes, it's me. I'm afraid something's come up and I can't make it in tonight. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. Yes. Yes, sir. Thank you for being so understanding. Yes, I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye."

Hanging up his phone, he looked up and frowned. Now he had the next few hours to himself to think and to sort everything out in his head. But where would be a good place to do all that? Without a plan in mind, he simply let his feet dictate his destination.

* * *

After dinner, instead of doing his homework like he was supposed to, Daisuke decided that going back to school to do the finishing touches on the backdrop was a better idea. His brother had gone and holed himself up in his room again which could only mean that something had gone wrong with his self-proclaimed 'flawless plan'. And having been rejected on his offer to lend a shoulder to cry on, he figured that the next best thing to do was to keep himself busy.

Much to his surprise, he found that he wasn't the only person with the idea of hiding in the art room. "Hikari-kun? What are you doing here?"

The blue haired boy gave a start and turned around, "Niwa? I could ask you the same thing."

"I came to finish the backdrop since there's really nothing else I can do right now. My brother's been in his room sulking all day now, so I decided to get away. What about you? I thought you had work tonight."

"Oh, I called in sick today, and I was taking a walk and ended up here for some reason. I guess it was to think…your painting has a very calming effect on people, did you know that? You've done a really good job on this, even Krad said so. He said that you have a lot of talent, and that you just need more practice."

"I don't think I'll ever be as good as him though, your brother's paintings are absolutely amazing."

"T-thanks…"

He blinked at the response, "Hikari-kun?"

Taking a seat, Satoshi stared at the painting for a moment before asking "Do you think I could watch you paint for a little while…?"

* * *

Emiko frowned as she looked up the stairway. Her son hadn't left his room since he got home. He'd even missed dinner which had only once before. Deciding that enough was enough, she made her way up to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

Knocking on the door, she called to her son only to receive a muffled reply in return. Irked, she opened the door and stepped inside anyways. There was her son, lying in bed, staring at his phone. "Are you just going to lie there all night or are you going to give him a call?"

"Hn."

"You know you missed dinner, right?"

"I know mom, just leave me alone. I need time to think."

She crossed her arms and raised a brow, "did something happen with Krad again?"

At this, her son sat up and stared at her sceptically, "what makes you say that?"

"Oh please, I'm your mother. Don't underestimate me _that_ much. If you must know, I've known for quite awhile now. So what happened?"

Not in the mood to argue, Dark let out a sigh and stared at his feet, "I'm not even sure. One minute we were fine, the next, he's breaking it off, the next, we're talking and I find out that I'm probably in over my head. I don't even know what to do now…if I was to see him, I wouldn't even know what to say to him. I want to help him but I can't. Why'd everything have to be so messed up?"

Emiko sat down at the end of the bed and stroked the boy's hair, "nothing in life's ever going to go the way you planned. Krad's probably just as lost as you right now. Why don't you give him a call?"

"And what would I say to him?"

"I don't know, say whatever you want or whatever pops into your head. Dark, comforting someone doesn't always mean saying the right things. Sometimes, just being there's enough. You'll see, that call will mean more to him than you think."

A scoff, "what would you know?"

She rolled her eyes, "You're underestimating me again. Fine, let's make a bet on it. If you're right, I'll never say a word on your dating habits or your love life ever again. But if you're wrong, you'll have to not only come with me and Towa-chan when we go shopping, but you'll have to carry everything we buy home. And that includes grocery shopping."

Dark frowned, "but you guys end up buying enough for a small country every time you leave the house!"

"So is it a bet?"

"…fine."

Standing up, she gave him a wink, "I guess you better make that call then. If you don't, I suppose I could always bring Krad over so that you two can talk things out personally."

"I'll call him! I'll call him soon! No need to threaten me!"

"Threat? I don't know what you're talking about! I was merely offering to do you a favour! Well, I'll be downstairs if you need anything. Your dinner's in the microwave if you get hungry."

"Thanks mom."

"Anytime, darling. Just remember that we'll always be here for you, okay?"

* * *

He was sitting in his studio in front of a blank canvas when his phone rang. Blinking, he stared at it for another minute before putting down his brush and picking it up. "Hello?"

"_Hello?__"_

Amber eyes widened in disbelief, "Dark?"

"_Yea? Did I catch you at a bad time?"_

"What? No, you're fine. I just wasn't really expecting a call from anyone, that's all. And I'm sorry about earlier, I really didn't mean to ramble like that. "

"_Don't worry about it. I'm glad you did, it might not have been good news, but I got to see you again. It's been awhile since I've heard your voice or actually talked to you, hasn't it?"_

"Yes it has…a little over two months I believe. It was nice seeing you too, though I wish it'd been in under better conditions."

"_So did you tell Satoshi?"_

"Yes I did."

"_And how did he take it?"_

"I'm not sure, he left for work right after so…"

"_Ah, I see…you know, I don't have anything planned out-on what to say, I mean. Maybe I should hang up, write something out and call you back? Would that seem more legit?"_

He laughed and shifted so that his phone was resting between his ear and his shoulder. Picking up his paintbrush again, he looked at his palette for a moment before choosing a colour to dip it into. "It's fine. You're normally pretty good at improvisation, aren't you?"

"_Not when it counts apparently. So…what are you up to right now?"_

"Right now? I'm painting."

"_Oh, should I hang up then?"_

"No, don't. I know this might come off the wrong way, but I've missed talking to you. I've missed your company a lot, too…so please, just keep talking-about anything, really."

"_About anything…damn, I don't think I've ever been like this except during that one biology test where I didn't study at all. I remember just sitting there and staring at the pages, expecting the answers to write themselves. But of course they didn't, so you know what I ended up doing?"_

"No, tell me. What'd you end up doing? Please don't tell me you fainted to get out of a test again."

"_Close, but not quite. I drew a dinosaur and tried to convince the teacher that my dream was to become an artist some day, and that I was too busy drawing to study. I'm pretty sure I also told her that she should support me as a budding artist and give me a passing grade."_

Raising a brow in amusement, he asked, "a dinosaur? And how did that work for you? Did she buy it?"

"_Nope. Not in the least. She told me that she'd never seen a more inaccurate dinosaur in her life, and that I had a better chance at making a proper living by studying and actually graduating. I told her it was abstract and she ended up giving me bonus marks for it…not that I passed anyways."_

"That's too bad, I'm sure it was an excellent dinosaur. Was this the same teacher we had last year?"

"_Yes, same teacher but different class, I think this was two years ago. She never changes though, that lady's just full of snark, isn't she? Did you know that she's friends with my mother?"_

"Is she really? Is that why you accused her of 'being in cahoots' with your mother that one class? I remember you completely flipped out after she made that comment."

"…_oh yea! And you know what? I bet she is! Why else would she have called us a 'cute couple', and how else would my mom have figured it all out? That's probably why she took such a long time during that parent-teacher interview night, I knew I heard them giggling! Damn it, I should've figured it out sooner!"_

"So your mother knew all along? Wouldn't that mean she didn't say anything to you just so she could continue teasing you? That's seems rather mean. And speaking of mean, did you know that Satoshi made your brother walk all the way to my house in a dress once?"

"_Seriously? In a dress? He never mentioned this to me! You have to tell me everything."_

* * *

Without looking up from his painting, he asked the other, "So what's wrong, Hikari-kun?"

Satoshi looked up with a start, "huh? What do you mean?"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I know for a fact that you wouldn't just skip work without a good reason."

"And how can you be sure of that?"

He smiled as he dipped his brush into the white, "because there was that one time when you ended up lecturing Saehara about it, do you remember? There was a festival and you said that you could only make it for the end since you had work and he was trying to convince you to skip work to come with us. And then you flat out rejected his proposal."

The blue haired boy blinked and tried to pull up the memory in his mind, "ah, right…I remember. He was being so insistent…I didn't know how else I was supposed to retaliate."

Daisuke chuckled, "he ended up sulking until you arrived that night. That's why I'm sure you're not skipping work for fun. Besides, you mentioned earlier that you came here to think. Did something happen?"

A sigh, "I suppose you could say that. It's more like something that I knew was bound to happen is finally happening. It's strange because I thought I was mentally prepared to handle this, but I'm not. There's nothing I can do to help. We've already been through this once before, so I know that all you can do is steel yourself for everything to come. But…I don't know how I can."

The redhead turned and watched his friend worriedly, "is it that serious? …I'm sure Hikari-kun will find the best way to deal with it, no matter how hard it may be. And please remember that you can always come to me for anything. I'll always be your ally, Hikari-kun. Me, Dark, Saehara, everyone, we're all here for you, so don't ever think you're in it alone, okay? And Krad-san, you can always rely on him, can't you?"

It seemed like a dam just burst as Satoshi opened his mouth and the words came pouring out. "That's the problem. I'm so used to relying on Krad for everything, but now, he's the one person I can't talk to about this since… since this is about him."

He stopped painting, "What do you mean? Hikari-kun…?"

* * *

Glancing at his clock, he noticed that not only had it started raining again, but that it was getting late. Daisuke had long since returned and went to bed without so much as poking his head into the room to bid him goodnight, which was unusual. But at the same time, he was too preoccupied with his call to care. "Are you still painting?"

"_Yes…but you're saying it in that tone of voice, so I'm going to guess that it's getting late, isn't it? You have class tomorrow, don't you?"_

"I do, but you know I hate knowing that I'll be sleeping while you slave away at a canvas."

"_But you know that I hate leaving my paintings half done."_

"Are you even close to finishing the first coat?"

"_Actually, I am, so you can go to sleep, right? By the way, you shouldn't be surprised if Daisuke ends up staying up late to paint one day. He's got a lot of talent."_

Dark smiled, "I know. That's not going to stop me from poking fun at him about it though. It'll mean a lot to him to hear you say that though, you've pretty much become his idol. Hey, before I forget, are you free tomorrow?"

"_I probably am, what for?"_

His heart lurched as the words left his mouth, "I want to talk, face to face….about everything. And if you say no, I'll sneak out right now and run over to your place or something."

There was a moment of silence.

"_Really? Even though it's raining right now? Is it really that serious…? I suppose it is, isn't it? Alright, I understand. I'll see you tomorrow at our place then?"_

"Yea, I'll see you there. You better go to sleep soon. If I see any eye bags tomorrow, I'll get angry."

"_Alright, alright, I promise there won't be any eye bags or dozing off tomorrow. Goodnight, Dark."_

"Goodnight."

"_Oh, and Dark?"_

Violet eyes blinked, "Yes?"

"_I'm glad you called. Thanks."_

He could feel his heart skip a beat at that, and though he wanted to say something more, he hesitated. "Anytime. Goodnight, Krad."

Hanging up, he let out a deep breath and stared out the window. Tomorrow couldn't come any faster, though he was both excited and anxious about their meeting. Excited that he'd finally be able to talk to the other properly again, but anxious that he'd end up hearing things he didn't want to. But despite all that, one thought brought a smile to his lips.

Krad still called that café _'theirs'._

* * *

Nya~

Wow, how long has it been since I last updated? Too long, that's what! Are you all still out there? I bet you thought I'd never update again, didn't you? Speaking of update though, Sugisaki-sensei seriously needs to update DNAngel soon, she left at such a good part too! And the cover of volume 15 makes me happy every time I see it. So I was actually going back to edit a couple of my older fics since ff(dot)net went and screwed up a lot of the formatting. And what I've come to realize is that, my writing style's changed quite a bit since I first started, hasn't it? It makes me feel super old when I think back to when I first started writing all those years ago...back in the day when ff(dot)net allowed ! and ? to be typed without deleting one of them and when you were allowed to type websites and stuff... Anyways, I probably shouldn't make anymore promises on updates since they seem rather unreliable, don't they? But hopefully I'll get another update up soon! This title means 'If we can meet in a dream' more or less. Wish me luck! Enjoy!


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